The Transformation Agenda is not a list of initiatives. It is the operating logic for change inside the legal department.

At GLS, we treat the Transformation Agenda as the legal function’s structured change system — a deliberately sequenced roadmap that governs how the team evolves over time, not just what it wants to improve. 

It sets direction, enforces discipline, and prevents transformation from degenerating into disconnected projects and half-finished experiments.

Legal transformation does not happen organically. Left unchecked, legal teams drift into reactive behaviour: chasing tools, responding to pressure points, launching pilots without adoption plans, and mistaking motion for progress. The result is fatigue, wasted spend, and very little durable improvement.

The Transformation Agenda exists to stop that.

It defines the improvements to be made, the order in which they should be tackled, and the conditions under which change is allowed to scale. It forces legal leaders to be explicit about priorities, realistic about capacity, and honest about trade-offs. 

Most importantly, it ensures that every initiative — whether process, technology, capability, or operating model — contributes to a coherent view of what the legal team is deliberately becoming.

This Station is fundamentally about sequencing and restraint. Not everything can — or should — be done at once. The Transformation Agenda provides a structured mechanism for assessing impact, readiness, and leverage before action is taken. It ensures pilots are purposeful, supported, measured, and either scaled properly or shut down decisively.

Critically, the Transformation Agenda is not static. It is a living system that must be revisited, recalibrated, and refreshed as business priorities shift, risk profiles change, and legal demand evolves. A transformation agenda that does not move is already obsolete.

In short, this Station on the Legal Operations Line is about replacing ad-hoc change with intentional evolution — and giving legal leaders the infrastructure they need to transform their function without losing control, credibility, or momentum.

◼️Current Status Assessment: You must build up a data based view of the legal processes you are trying to fix

◼️Benchmarking: Compared your results against a “peer” legal department - keep the comparison realistic and appropriate

◼️Wishlist Solution:  Develop a Wishlist specification that is “unbridled” so you are accessing the full spectrum of thinking about what your legal team can be

◼️Aggressive Socialisation: reduce your Wishlist down to the realities of your ecosystems - change management capability, budget, competencies, etc

◼️Operate 3 Time Horizons: 100 days, 12-18 months and 36 months - transformation initiatives will dynamically move to the correct time line◼️Vision & Objectives:  Defining what transformation means for your legal team.

◼️Initiative Sequencing:  Prioritising and scheduling change efforts across a 3-year horizon.

◼️Pilot Planning:  Testing new tools, processes, and service models before full rollout.

◼️Safe Implementation Overlay: prioritise only initiatives that you know you are 95% likely to succeed - push back other required gaols until success profile reaches safe zone

◼️Adoption Strategy: Ensuring changes stick through training, communication, and support.

◼️Resource Allocation: Budgeting and staffing for transformation initiatives.

◼️Stakeholder Engagement: Communicating goals, progress, and wins to the business.

◼️Progress Tracking: Monitoring milestones, KPIs, and transformation outcomes.

◼️Continuous Updating:  Refreshing the agenda based on feedback, results, and changing priorities.

The Transformation Agenda station is considered a Specialist resource within the GLS Legal Operations model.

A Foundational Resource: Is responsible for determining the overall performance capabilities of a “critical” legal function. If it is not optimised, the function can never be optimised. 

A Repeater Resource: Supports the performance of multiple "critical" legal functions and as such represents a "ripple effect" productivity intervention point. 

A Specialist Resource: Is responsible for driving the performance of a very specific part of an individual legal function. Its productivity contribution is limited to that single legal function. 

The best practice features of the Transformation Agenda Station include: 

◼️Current Status Assessment: You must build up a data based view of the legal processes you are trying to fix

◼️Benchmarking: Compared your results against a “peer” legal department - keep the comparison realistic and appropriate

◼️Wishlist Solution:  Develop a Wishlist specification that is “unbridled” so you are accessing the full spectrum of thinking about what your legal team can be

◼️Aggressive Socialisation: reduce your Wishlist down to the realities of your ecosystems - change management capability, budget, competencies, etc

◼️Safe Implementation Overlay: prioritise only initiatives that you know you are 95% likely to succeed - push back other required gaols until success profile reaches safe zone

◼️Operate 3 Time Horizons: 100 days, 12-18 months and 36 months - transformation initiatives will dynamically move to the correct time line◼️3-Year Horizon – Long enough to deliver meaningful change, short enough to stay relevant.

◼️Cross-Functional Input – Involving business, IT, finance, and compliance in planning.

◼️Change Management Support – Training, communication, and reinforcement strategies.

◼️Performance Metrics – Tracking impact, adoption, and return on investment.

◼️Leadership Sponsorship – Senior buy-in and visibility for transformation efforts.

◼️Agility & Flexibility – Ability to pivot based on feedback and evolving needs.

◼️Integration with Legal Strategy – Ensuring transformation supports the legal mandate.

The Transformation Agenda delivers the following value to the Business:

◼️Faster Legal Support – Improvements reduce delays and bottlenecks.

◼️Lower Legal Spend – Efficiency and automation reduce cost.

◼️Improved Risk Management – Processes and tools reduce exposure.

◼️Better Strategic Alignment – Legal evolves with the business.

◼️Increased Innovation – Legal becomes a driver of change, not a barrier.

◼️Enhanced Stakeholder Confidence – Business sees Legal as forward-looking and value-adding.

◼️Stronger Investment Cases – Strategic clarity supports funding for legal initiatives.

◼️Accelerated Deal Velocity – Legal clears the path for commercial execution by aligning priorities with business timelines.

Legal teams gain clarity, momentum, and credibility. The agenda supports morale, performance, and stakeholder engagement. It also ensures that transformation is sustainable - not just a one-off initiative. It helps legal leaders manage change, measure progress, and build a future-ready legal function.

It also supports:

◼️Team Morale & Focus – Lawyers know what matters and why.

◼️Performance Management – Goals are defined, tracked, and celebrated.

◼️Transformation Enablement – Change efforts are sequenced and resourced.

◼️Talent Development – Strategic goals inform training and career paths.

◼️Cross-Team Collaboration – Shared priorities foster alignment across jurisdictions and functions.

◼️Knowledge Retention – Strategic planning documents institutional memory and decision logic.

◼️Legal Ops Integration – Legal operations teams execute against a clear strategic mandate.

The Transformation Agenda is essential for:

◼️Legal departments of all sizes

◼️Legal operations teams

◼️General Counsel and Heads of Legal

◼️Legal tech and innovation leads

◼️Compliance and risk management teams

A legal team operating without a Transformation Agenda will face a wide range of inefficiencies including:

◼️Fragmented Change Efforts – No coordination or prioritisation.

◼️Low Adoption Rates – Changes don’t stick due to lack of support.

◼️Wasted Investment – Tools and initiatives fail without strategic alignment.

◼️Poor Stakeholder Confidence – Business sees no progress or direction.

◼️Transformation Fatigue – Team burns out without seeing results.

◼️Missed Opportunities – Legal fails to support key commercial initiatives in time.

◼️Inconsistent Performance – No shared goals or metrics to guide delivery.

◼️Budgeting Challenges – No strategic rationale for spend requests or headcount growth.

This station is tech-leveraged. Transformation often involves tech implementation, integration, and optimisation. The agenda ensures that technology supports - not drives - change. It also helps legal ops teams plan for adoption, training, and performance tracking.

Legal ops teams may use:

◼️Project Management Platforms – To track initiatives and milestones.

◼️Analytics Dashboards – To monitor KPIs and performance trends.

◼️Collaboration Tools – To engage stakeholders and share plans.

◼️Scenario Planning Software – To model legal readiness under different business conditions.